Volkswagen Passat detailed review: Is this the best affordable big sedan in 2020?

CarExpert

With big Australian sedans no longer a thing, buyers after a big car (that isn't an SUV) to transport their families in are limited. But one that has been around for a while and is now extensively being used by police forces is the Volkswagen Passat. The 2020 Volkswagen Passat Business is offered in one specification and Paul Maric gets behind the wheel to see what it's like. It also now has wireless Apple CarPlay!  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-volkswagen-passat-review-140tsi-business/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 00:58 Interior: 02:13 Infotainment: 03:28 Features: 05:13  Practicality: 06:36 On the Road: 10:58 Verdict: 15:16  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #volkswagen #review #passat #vw @volkswagen @volkswagenaustralia

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. If you see one of these cars pull up behind you in a hurry in Australia,

00:05 you could have a problem. That's because Volkswagen has started rolling these out to some of the

00:09 Australian police forces as a general duties police car. It's the Volkswagen Passat. It's

00:15 now available in one trim level, the 140 TSI Business, but they have enlisted some 206

00:21 TSI Passats as highway patrol cars as well, whereas this one is just the front-wheel drive

00:26 car. Prices start at just under $46,000, but this is insane, they're already doing drive-away

00:31 prices on this car at under $43,000. So it is seriously cheap. It competes with cars

00:37 like the Mazda 6, the Hyundai Sonata, the Toyota Camry and the Kia Optima. Now if you

00:42 do want to skip ahead in this detailed review, you can use the time codes above or simply

00:46 scroll down to the description for the links. And while you're at it, I'd love it if you

00:50 could hit subscribe for our channel and also the bell icon so it tells you every single

00:54 time we drive police car looking cars.

00:58 Let's talk exterior. Six colours to choose from in all, but this very police car looking

01:02 white is $800 extra. The Passat's a pretty handsome looking car, don't you think? It

01:07 sort of doesn't look too boring and plain. It's got a little bit of style to it with

01:11 all these chrome bits, a big Volkswagen badge. Kind of all just looks nice, you know, it's

01:17 not too exciting, not too aggressive, just nice. And that means you're getting full LED

01:21 lights as well as standard. And if I whip around to the side here, you get 18 inch alloy

01:26 wheels with a fairly sort of chubby tyre. You're looking at a 45 profile there. I'm

01:30 keen to see whether this car rides well because Volkswagens are generally known for their good

01:34 ride, but with 18 inch alloy wheels, you're starting to sort of move towards the higher

01:38 end of wheel dimension there. But yeah, let me know in the comments below, what do you

01:41 think of the design? Is something this sort of plain looking going to put you away from

01:46 this car or would you just go for something like a nicer colour to make it stand out a

01:51 little bit? Let me know your thoughts. Integrated into this wing mirror is an indicator. Same

01:55 story at the back. It's just, you know, nothing too exciting. You have these cool looking

02:00 LED lights integrated into the rear. And I do like this feature here to open the boot,

02:05 you basically push this in and when the reverse camera comes on, that pops out as well. So

02:09 it's a clever integration of both a boot opener and also a reverse camera.

02:14 So we're now inside the Passat and you can kind of see that exterior theme follows on

02:18 in here. It's nice, but it's not amazing, but it's okay that it's not amazing. It just

02:23 serves a purpose and I think they've done a good job with it. They've broken up the

02:27 blacks with this trim along the top here. It's plastic, but it's got that weave to it.

02:33 They do have a lot of piano black, which I'm not a big fan of. It marks quite easily and

02:37 it leaves fingerprints everywhere. So you can see it around the gear shifter and also

02:40 the infotainment system, but they haven't gone crazy with it. So look, it is plain,

02:44 but it does look nice. Let's see how soft it is with our hardness tester. So this tests

02:49 the hardness and we're going to check the dashboard in a second from zero to 100, where

02:53 zero is really soft and 100 is really hard. Like I say all the time, only motoring journalists

02:59 care about how soft a soft touch dashboard is. So let's see what it measures on our scale.

03:05 Hey, that's not bad. So it's in the 60s. Let's try this center console lid. That's pretty

03:13 good too, in the 50s. So Volkswagen has done a good job in making this interior feel nice

03:18 and premium with soft touch finishes. Let's look at build quality though, and it all feels

03:22 really nice and solid. Nothing's moving around. It feels like this has been screwed together

03:28 really nicely. Let's talk infotainment. This is what Volkswagen calls the Discover Media

03:32 infotainment system. It's an eight inch screen. I'm going to give you a quick run through

03:35 now, but we've done a detailed review on the Discover range. If you want to watch our detailed

03:39 review of the Volkswagen infotainment systems, click on the link up there. This is really

03:43 clever because it's recently been updated to include wireless Apple CarPlay, Android

03:49 Auto, and they've updated the ports inside the car to be USB-C as opposed to USB-A. So

03:54 I'll take you through the system. This is the home screen. You've got several buttons

03:58 you can choose from there, and you'll notice that when your finger approaches, you get

04:01 extra context menus. It's got like a little radar sensor, and then it also has gesture

04:05 controls so you can swipe left and right, and there is a hidden menu up the top here

04:10 that a lot of people don't know about. This is where you can change the instrument lighting,

04:14 enable air care, which is the air filtration system, and then add shortcuts such as your

04:18 route guidance to home. Speaking of route guidance, I'll show you what that looks like.

04:22 The map display is really nice and clear. It's easy to zoom in and out, and you also

04:27 have auto zoom functions that mean that the car will zoom in when you're approaching intersections

04:32 and then zoom out when you're on highways. In terms of radio, you don't have DAB plus

04:37 digital radio. I just don't understand why Volkswagen is so against it. When you click

04:40 on your sources, you have AM/FM and then the ability to stream Bluetooth audio. Over on

04:45 the phone menu, it is currently connected to Apple CarPlay, which means all of your

04:49 functions run through the screen. It's a good integration. It seems high resolution enough,

04:54 and it also means that you're able to use the voice recognition function. That button

04:57 does nothing unless you're connected to smartphone mirroring. The only downside to the smartphone

05:01 mirroring is that you don't have wireless phone charging. So while it is a wireless

05:05 integration of the smartphone mirroring, you can't charge your phone wirelessly. You still

05:09 have to plug it up. So it is a little bit counterintuitive, but the infotainment system

05:13 itself works really well, and it's one of the better systems available in this segment.

05:17 Enough about infotainment, let's talk about the other features you're getting with the

05:20 140 TSI business. You have autonomous emergency braking that detects pedestrians as well.

05:25 Radar cruise control. You have tri-zone climate control, so two for the front row, one for

05:30 the second row. You have heated leather seats up the front, and I like this feature. One

05:35 push of that button, and there's a massage seat function. So after a hard day at the

05:40 office as an accountant, because that's probably who's buying this, you can put your massage

05:44 seats on for the way home. Then you also have a self-parking feature, so if you're not confident

05:49 with parking, one push of that allows the car to self-perpendicular and parallel park.

05:54 You have a blind that goes up and down at the back. I never understood what the point

05:59 in that feature is. Let me know in the comments below if you have an electric blind at the

06:02 rear, whether you actually ever use it or not. You have a reverse view camera with front

06:07 and rear parking sensors, but ahead of the driver, you don't get a digital display like

06:11 you do in other Volkswagen models. You've got this old-school analogue setup with a

06:15 small digital display in the centre, and finally, it's capped off with an auto-dimming rear

06:19 vision mirror. And what does the key look like? Here it is here, so it's a pretty standard-looking

06:24 Volkswagen key. You've got a lock, unlock, the boot, and then if you flip it around,

06:28 you have the Volkswagen symbol nestled in the top corner. And it's proximity, entry

06:33 and start as well, so the key just stays in your pocket.

06:36 What about practicality? And we'll kick off with storage. Where are you going to put your

06:40 phone? Well, there is a nice little nook down the front there. It's gripped as well, so

06:44 your phone isn't going to move around. Bottle storage fits into both of these. They're both

06:49 different heights, and they have these retractable grips on them as well, so the bottle isn't

06:53 going to move around. Then inside the door, you have very generous bins for bottles and

06:58 other little pieces. The door bins are also carpeted, which is pretty fancy. Have a look

07:04 at this in terms of storage. So, you have the centre armrest here. That moves forwards.

07:08 It takes a bit of effort. And backwards. But then you can also lock it into different positions.

07:13 So if you're short, you can have it higher. If you're insanely short, you can have it

07:18 really high. And then inside there, you have your other USB-C port. It's not the biggest

07:24 centre console in the world, but big enough for a wallet and a couple of other bits and

07:27 pieces. Over here, you have a glove box that's reasonably sized. That's where the CD player

07:33 would sit if it existed. You have SD card slots, and then slots for a business card

07:37 and coins. It's air-conditioned as well. You can open and close the air-conditioning port

07:42 using this swivel. Over on my right-hand side, I have a bin for coins and other little bits

07:47 and pieces. And then above us, we have sunglass storage as well. So, there are plenty of places

07:53 to store things inside this cabin. Now, what about comfort? So, I told you before that

07:56 there is massage seats available. The front of the seat moves forwards and backwards.

08:02 And then the headrest moves forwards and backwards as well. That's for your whiplash protection.

08:06 The seat itself is reasonably comfortable. It is a little bit firm though. So, we haven't

08:12 spent a huge amount of time behind the wheel, but can you get your comments if you've bought

08:16 a Passat? Let us know in the comments below whether this is a comfortable seat for long-distance

08:20 drives. The steering wheel sits nicely in the hand, and all the controls are easy to

08:23 reach from this seating position.

08:25 OK, back seats. I really like it back here. It kind of reminds me of the Falcon and the

08:29 Commodore, the Australian-built cars we used to make right here in Australia. The business

08:34 spec kind of caters towards a luxury end of that market, but it is still ultimately the

08:40 perfect family car because you have stacks of room back here. I've got loads of knee

08:43 room. Toe room isn't amazing, but it's comfortable enough and you could easily fit two adults

08:49 side by side here, or three kids if you wanted them to be abreast. That third zone of climate

08:53 control is down here. You can adjust that by pushing up and down. Then hidden under

08:57 this little door here is another USB-C outlet and a 12-volt outlet. Here you've got a centre

09:02 armrest with three cup holders. Let's give those a shot. So, we've seen this in a few

09:08 different cars now where they have different sizes each of them. So, bottle fits fine in

09:12 there, doesn't fit into there and no way it's going to fit into there, which is a little

09:16 bit odd. Then in the door you've also got room for a bottle and then a little bit of

09:19 extra storage. But have a look over here. You can access the boot using this ski port.

09:25 So, you drop that down and then you have ready access to the boot. So, I think that's clever

09:29 and you can use that to get things out of the boot without having to stop the car. Also,

09:33 fixed points on the two outboard seats. You've got air vents, mat pockets in both seats and

09:39 have a look at this. You also have blinds. So, you can go full exec spec with the side

09:45 and the rear blind up as well. No one's ever going to be able to see you in here.

09:49 Let's talk about cargo capacity and what surprised me with this. So, there's that boot opener.

09:54 I love that little system. It is kind of old now. They debuted it ages ago on the Golf,

09:58 but I think it's quite genius. There is almost 600 litres of cargo space here and what makes

10:03 that even more impressive is that under the cargo floor you have a full-size spare tyre.

10:08 Obviously, with this car being used in some police forces, they need a full-size spare

10:12 instead of a space saver. Then, alongside that, you have the jack and a couple of other

10:16 bits and pieces, but you still get a really big usable floor. And then, on top of that,

10:20 you can fold these seats as well by pulling this lever. Let's drop out of the way. And

10:26 then, that expands to almost 1,200 litres of cargo space in an almost flat floor up

10:30 until the back of the seats. Then, you have other nifty features like this, a retractable

10:35 hook and, have a look at this, that is spring-loaded as well. So, instead of just snapping back

10:39 into position, it's got like a soft close on it. Storage on either sides of the boot.

10:44 You have hooks and then also a 12-volt outlet as well. Let's see how it fits our luggage.

10:50 I don't think there's going to be any dramas at all here. Like a glove. Safety triangle

10:57 up there as well. So, we're driving the Passat now. Under the bonnet, this is powered by

11:03 the 140 TSI engine, which is a 2-litre turbocharged, four-cylinder petrol engine that makes, you

11:09 guessed it, 140 kilowatts of power and 320 newton metres of torque. It's mated to a seven-speed

11:16 dual-clutch gearbox. Now, if you've watched some of our other car reviews, you'll know

11:20 that I'm not a massive, massive fan of dual-clutch gearboxes. They can just be a little bit fussy

11:25 up hills and they're a little sort of elastic when you're moving off the line. They're not

11:30 sort of uniform like a torque converter. This one's much the same, but I suspect after owning

11:35 it for a while, it's probably a trait that you're going to get used to and Volkswagen's

11:39 days of DSG troubles seem to be behind them at the moment. The only downside to this engine

11:44 is that it requires a minimum 95-ron premium unleaded fuel, but it does mean that it will

11:49 achieve 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres on the combined cycle. Now, a lot of you ask, how

11:54 close do we actually get to that? Well, the long-term usage for this car is 6.6 litres

12:00 per 100 kilometres and it has done almost 2,000 kilometres. So it's pretty impressive

12:05 that this is virtually bang on at the claimed fuel economy. So it gives you an idea of which

12:10 manufacturers get close to their numbers and which actually don't. This isn't the world's

12:14 most powerful engine, but should you choose to sink the boot in, it gives you a nice kick

12:20 in the pants and it'll do 0-100 in about 7.4 seconds. It's pretty reasonable for a car

12:26 this size and the engine's quite responsive as well. So when you do find that you need

12:30 to get stuck into it, the gearbox is quick enough to rifle back through the gears, give

12:34 you what you need, but it doesn't always need to. It can lean on its torque band to give

12:38 you a lot of torque in its current gear. So that just spools up the turbocharger and gives

12:43 you a more linear feel as opposed to having to dive back through gears when you flatten

12:47 the throttle. But when you do, it actually feels really nice and doesn't feel like it'll

12:52 run out of breath if you're trying to overtake or get out of somewhere in a hurry.

12:56 Now the curious thing, comes with a brake towing capacity of 1,800 kilos. Yes, it is

13:01 front wheel drive, so you're probably not going to be doing a great deal of towing,

13:04 but the maximum down ball weight is 90 kilos and generally the rule of thumb is 10% of

13:08 your maximum brake to trailer capacity is what you want as your down ball weight. So

13:13 if you reverse engineer those numbers, you would really only want to be towing 900 kilos

13:16 in this car if you absolutely had to.

13:19 What's the ride like? Well, it's actually really nice. So here comes a speed hump. Yeah,

13:25 it's just really sort of, I don't know, it's really cushy and padded. Even though you've

13:29 got those 18 inch alloy wheels, it doesn't feel abrasive or too pushy on any of these

13:33 surfaces. Even if you find yourself a bit of a corrugated country road, it's still soaking

13:37 it up really nicely, but it does have a slightly firm edge to it. So it kind of gives you a

13:41 hint of sportiness without actually being overly sporty, which is kind of cool.

13:45 Steering feel isn't too bad. It's got a fair bit of communication through the wheel. It

13:49 isn't super light, which some of these larger sedans can be. It's actually quite nice and

13:55 it feels sporty in that sense. You're able to throw it around a few corners and actually

14:00 get feedback through the steering wheel.

14:02 Let's check visibility. I can see miles ahead of me here. Visibility out the back's good.

14:07 Wing mirrors are not too bad. They are a little smaller than I was hoping for, but they do

14:11 have that, I'm going to have to learn this, the convex, concave thing at the end. It gives

14:16 you a little bit of extra visibility around the corner. And I love when you put the indicator

14:19 on that you can actually see it flashing on the outer edge of the wing mirror too.

14:23 Cabin noise is good. There is a little bit of road noise coming into the cabin, but it's

14:27 not the end of the world. You will find more of it though as you hit coarse chip surfaces,

14:32 but for the most part, it's a fairly quiet place to be seated.

14:35 I'll quickly run you through the drive modes. There's a button here that brings them up

14:38 on the screen. You've got Eco, which reduces your air conditioning a bit. Sport, which

14:43 puts the gearbox into a sport mode. There are no paddle shifters, so you've got to slide

14:47 over here to manually row through the gears or one pull down puts it directly into a sport

14:52 mode. And then finally, you have individual, which lets you customise each of those components.

14:57 So the question is, can you actually notice a difference in sport mode? Let's see what

15:00 happens. I'll just put sport on. It's gone back a couple of gears. Oh yeah, the throttle's

15:06 a bit sharper. Yeah, so it kind of just sharpens up throttle response and it's more willing

15:12 to go back through the gears. Yeah, it's pretty good. It feels really nice.

15:17 So the Volkswagen Passat, look, it's a bit vanilla, it's a bit boring, but you know,

15:21 so am I. Some people like vanilla and boring, that's why they buy Camrys and other sort

15:25 of cars like that. So if this is the type of car that you want, that's going to get

15:28 you from A to B, it gets you there in style. It's got plenty of punch from the engine and

15:33 it's incredibly efficient as well. It comes with lots of standard features and there's

15:36 no options list to worry about. You just pick the paint colour, pay a bit extra if you need

15:40 to and then drive straight out of there. And they have enough confidence to use these in

15:44 the police force. That kind of tells you that they've done the durability testing that they

15:48 need to. So if you've found this video useful, press the like button, follow it up with a

15:52 subscribe and also hit the bell icon. And let us know in the comments below whether

15:56 you've bought a Passat, what do you think of it, what's it like over the long term and

16:00 you as vanilla as I am. But until next time, take it easy.

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